About this project

$15,271

pledged of $14,800 goal

148

backers

"All the women of my family had gone to war... Now my turn had come...So it is the custom that a free woman leave her mother's house to bind herself and those of her blood to a neighboring clan, either by the sword or by the cradle."

Set in the British Isles during the Bronze Age, the first book in this epic trilogy tells the tale of Tamras, a young woman of the warrior class who leaves home to be fostered in Merin’s house, a fortress guarding the northern border of a rich agricultural valley. There she expects to find a mentor who will teach her the skills she will need to take her place in her community.

Catherine M. Wilson first began writing this amazing tale in 1998. Over the next ten years, she honed this story into the riveting read it is today.

I first read the trilogy in 2012 and knew it needed to become an audio book. At about the same time, singer/songwriter/author Janis Ian read the books and was equally enchanted. As Janis writes,"On vacation with my trusty Kindle, I read through it in two days and was so taken with the characters that I ordered the second and third in the series.” She gave it five stars, and the author took note. A few years later, the two met after one of Ian’s concert appearances. Says the singer “I was so excited to meet her, I blurted out ‘Hey, I just won a Grammy for “Best Spoken Word – Society’s Child”, and I’m looking for more narration work, if you ever want to make an audiobook....” That connection resulted in Janis signing on to narrate Book 1 of this Tolkienesque story.

Now, with the help of all our Kickstarter friends, we will be moving forward toward an actual recording date. With your help, we will be able to immortalize Janis’s remarkable voice narrating this story in a recording studio in Nashville, Tennessee. We will then be able to transform that voice into both digital and ‘hard copy’ CD sets so that this story can be listened to again and again in every format possible.

On the side to the right, there are a range of rewards for backers of this project. Please have fun exploring!
Should we surpass our goal for the creation of the audio book, a percentage of the extra funds will be donated to The Pearl Foundation.

The Pearl Foundation, founded by Janis in honor of her mother, Pearl, was created to fund college scholarships for ‘returning students’. As the website states, “these returning students often need financial help more than younger students who have never been in the work force or taken on the obligations of family, mortgage, etc.”
Janis’s mother worked full time all her life and while raising two children. In 1975, she was diagnosed with MS. Janis and her brother convinced Pearl to pursue her lifelong dream of graduating from College, and she signed up for Goddard College’s Adult education program. She did graduate, and went on to earn her Master’s Degree in Playwriting from Goddard College.
More about this fascinating story can be found on the Pearl Foundation’s website, www.PearlFoundation.com.

Thank you for being part of this project, and for helping us make this audio book a reality.

Risks and challenges

Once the recording process is complete, I'll be bringing the sound files back with me to the mountains of Guffey, CO to work on the editing. A touch of music will be added, any unnecessary background noises taken out, the best 'takes' left in, and then the duplication, printing, uploading, and mailing can begin! At the same time, those rewards that can be shipped out immediately, will start making their way to the Post Office. I'll be posting updates on our progress here.
Audio books are a wonderful way to experience a story in an entirely different and exciting manner. With the magic of digital files, anything is now possible and while I do not expect any issues, should our computers take on a mind of their own, I will have duplicates and backups of everything to be sure the project progresses smoothly. The making of the audio book version of When Women Were Warriors will be an adventure I hope to share with all our wonderful backers.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $125 or more
About $125

Early release of SIGNED hard copy (CD set) of book. Signed by the author CATHERINE M. WILSON and narrator, JANIS IAN; ebook version of entire WWWW trilogy;Name listed on 'donor page' at Dog Ear Audio website.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $200 or more
About $200

Early release of hard copy (CD set) SIGNED by author, CATHERINE M. WILSON and narrator, JANIS IAN; ebook version of entire WWWW trilogy, PRINT copy of Book 1 SIGNED by the author; signed page of script used by director (8 1/2 x 11");Name listed on 'donor page' at Dog Ear Audio website.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $500 or more
About $500

Early release of WWWW in hard copy (CD set) SIGNED by the author, Catherine M. Wilson and narrator, Janis Ian; complete WWWW trilogy in ebook and Print form; a copy of Janis's Grammy and Audie Award winning audio book,"SOCIETY'S CHILD: MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY"; signed page of director's script, and Name read in Credits at end of book.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $1,000 or more
About $1,000

All of the above at the $750 level and an INVITATION TO ATTEND A HALF DAY RECORDING SESSION IN THE STUDIOS IN NASHVILLE, TN. This reward would include a copy of that half day's unmastered, unedited recording session for your personal enjoyment. (Transportation and accommodations are the responsibility of the backer.)